Thinking Outside the Dishwasher

If you are looking for some ideas on how to use social media to grow your business and connect with new potential customers, today’s Remark!able post is sure to spark some ideas.

I’m pleased to introduce you to Warners’ Stellian and their social media presence, Julie Warner. Drawn in by Julie’s warm and personable tweets, I quickly experienced why people love following Julie on Twitter. She makes a great effort to connect and make interactions interesting.

After I saw her blog post of “How To: Clean a Dishwasher” with a dog standing inside, I decided to share her fantastic style and approach to using social media with you.

In case you aren’t familiar with Warners’ Stellian, they are a kitchen and home appliance company. They have a website and blog, and they’re on Twitter and Facebook.

Warners’ Stellian: A Blogging Success Story

One of the truly Remark!able things about Julie is her ability to see the big picture and how social media can work for her business, while simultaneously breaking it down into bite size chunks to accomplish bigger goals. Last year when Minnesota came out with the (used/old) appliance stimulus program, Warners’ Stellian was ready. Prior to any details being released about the rebate program, Warners’ Stellian used their blog to break the news before local news stations or newspapers started covering the subject. In doing this, they were able to position themselves as the experts on this subject and capture market share.

Julie knows everyone at Warners’ Stellian is an expert on home appliances, but by using social media, she was able to effectively communicate this to new potential customers through a well planned social media strategy that paid off.

Step 1: Google

Prior to writing their blog posts about a subject they hoped would gain public interest, they put together keyword phrases they anticipated people would use once they heard about the appliance stimulus program. They hoped that by using keywords in their blog posts, they could capture traffic from Google searches that would soon be coming once the story broke.

Step 2: Blog

They started blogged about the stimulus program first, which gave them a leg up on the competition.They incorporated the keyword phrases in their content.

Step 3: Email Alerts

Warners’ Stellian offered an email sign-up for people interested in getting an “Alert” about the stimulus program, promising to give them the news first. With a program that people thought could quickly run out of funds, it was very important to consumers to gain whatever advantage they could, and Warners’ Stellian promised to help. The key here is that Warners’ Stellian concluded the emails with step by step directions to both reserve a rebate and submit it.

Step 4: Twitter

Julie shares, “In the days leading up to and during the launch of the rebate reservation process, I established searches on Twitter to assist those struggling with the reservation process or simply looking for more information on the program. I posted updates to our blog encouraging people to keep trying to get rebates, despite the technical glitches.”

The Result: Biggest Sales Day in History!

Julie’s social media plan worked great. Their blog articles about the stimulus program ranked higher than official websites on the subject because they started blogging early and used keyword phrases. The search engine traffic helped propel the blog and email alert efforts which became popular tools for people with questions. Julie says,  “I was able to quickly respond with answers. I urged our e-mail alert subscribers to contact me personally with questions any time, and I’m happy to report that many of them took me up on that offer and were successful in securing rebates.”

“…we were able to turn what was a negative, stressful situation for thousands across the state into a great first impression with our company…”

“We had our biggest sales day and month in history — without a doubt — but perhaps more important, we were able to engage very personally online with hundreds of people. Many of these people hadn’t been our customers previously, and I’m proud that we were able to turn what was a negative, stressful situation for thousands across the state into a great first impression with our company. I’m confident we earned a lot of lifetime customers and advocates during this period because of our devotion to customer service.”

So does their Remark!able story end there? Absolutely not! I encourage you to connect with Warners’ Stellian online, as they have so many interesting initiatives going on. They just wrapped up their own version of an appliance rebate program, are looking forward to Extreme Warehouse on March 12th and 13th, and are launching a new social media incentive to their followers; the details of which will be released on their Facebook page.

If you know of a company or non-profit using social media in a Remark!able way, or someone who has a Remark!able social networking story to share, please email me at info@vimm.com or leave a comment below.